Although primitive by today's standards, the CR-78 represented an important advance in drum machine technology at the time, in particular by allowing users to program and store their own drum patterns. The wood effect cabinet and preset rhythms of the CR-78 such as Waltz, Bossa Nova and Rhumba suggest that it was seen by its designers as primarily an accompaniment for an electric organ, but the CR-78 became one of the favorite instruments of Pop and electronic musicians in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Famous songs that make prominent use of the Roland CR-78 include "Vienna" by Ultravox, "Heart of Glass" by Blondie and "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins.[2]

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The CR-78 uses analog drum voices, which sound very little like real percussion instruments. The unit also incorporates an NECmicroprocessor[3] to provide digital control of its functions.[4]

Previous Roland drum machines had offered only a selection of preset rhythms. The CR-78's key new feature at the time of its introduction was that in addition to offering 34 preset rhythms, it provided four programmable memory locations for storing patterns created by the user. These can be created by using step programming with the WS-1 box, which was available as an optional extra.[5] The four user patterns are stored in RAM memory; when the CR78 is switched off, the contents of the RAM are maintained by a NiCd rechargeable battery.

The CR-78's front panel allows the user to customize the preset rhythms by altering the volume balance between bass and treble sounds, canceling some sounds altogether, and adding ring modulation ("metallic beat") to the cymbal sounds. Many of the preset rhythms have a memorable character, and the ability to manipulate them further made the CR-78 a versatile instrument.

No digital control of tempo is provided on the front panel, with only an analog knob for tempo control. However, the CR-78 accepts an external V-trig clock, allowing a control voltage to be fed in from another device such as a music sequencer.[6]

A selection of preset fills and rhythm variations are also available, either to trigger manually, or automatically every 2, 4, 8 or 16 bars. Some of these fills were used in synth-pop songs such as "Enola Gay" by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and "Underpass" by John Foxx.

Roland also produced a simpler drum machine, the CompuRhythm CR-68. This was essentially the same as the CR-78, but without programmable patterns or the ability to fade drum sounds in and out. At the same time Roland also sold the TR-66, a smaller unit which offered fewer preset rhythms and no programmability.[7]

There are four patterns named "Rock" and two named "Disco". Other patterns are named "Waltz", "Shuffle", "Slow Rock", "Swing", "Foxtrot", "Tango", "Boogie", "Enka", "Bossa Nova", "Samba", "Mambo", "Chacha", "Beguine" and "Rhumba". Each pattern is available in two variations, labelled "A" and "B". It is possible to select more than one rhythm at a time, and also mute drum sounds from a pattern using the balance knob and dedicated cancel buttons.

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CR-78 Presets - upper row

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CR-78 Presets - lower row

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